NPB Tracker

As 2010 draws to a close, here’s a look at what the blogs and newspapers are saying about NPB:

• Our own Patrick Newman joins Gen Sueyoshi from Yaku Baka in offering some thoughts on where the league is headed. The interview comes courtesy of Tokyoswallows.com.
• Gen also has news from the Fukuoka Softbank Hawks, including Nobuhiko Matsunaka’s pay cut, the largest ever in Japanese baseball.
• Amazin’ Avenue has a look back at Benny Agbayani’s career and finds out what he’s doing these days. Benny was one of my favorite players on both sides of the Pacific.
• Jason Coskrey takes a look at Japan’s aging crop of closers and who may be in line to replace them.
• Jim Allen, in his Daily Yomiuri column, gets Jim Small’s thoughts on the NPB/MLB relationship moving forward.
• Lastly, Wayne Graczyk looks back at a 2010 season filled with moments to remember.

Here’s what we have in the works:

• Another post or two on news and bullet points
• Japanese participation in Winter Leagues
• Nishioka’s potential successors at SS for Lotte
• More on the Chen situation and what it means for NPB teams developing foreign prospects
• Taking on some of Jim Small’s recent comments

And in January, we’ll be doing a team-by-team breakdown of the player personnel moves that occurred this offseason. Of course if there’s anything you would like to see, I’ll be happy to take it into consideration.